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The Pisces

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The Pisces

By: Melissa Broder
Narrated by: Isabella Inchbald
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About this listen

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019

Profoundly modern, deeply disturbed and darkly comic, The Pisces is about heartbroken PhD student who over one summer falls in dangerous, ecstatic love with a merman.

Lucy, staying in a beautiful home overlooking Venice Beach, can find no peace from her misery - not in therapy, not in Tinder hookups, not in her sister's dog's unquestioning devotion, not in ruminating on the ancient Greeks. Yet everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer one night while sitting alone on the beach rocks....

Pairing neurotic hilarity with pulse-racing carnality and fierce feminism, The Pisces is hot, bothered and unforgettable. Traversing the lines between fantasy and reality, it explores the questions of how and why we stay alive. This fairy-tale romance with a merman could just be the sanest and most human novel you listen to all year.

©2018 Melissa Broder (P)2018 Audible, Ltd Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Heartfelt Fantasy Merfolk

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One of the strongest reading experiences I've ever had. Reminded me a lot of My Year of Rest and Relaxation in tone. The Theo storyline was very odd. I thought this book was going to end very differently, and had it ended the way I thought it would, I would have considered it a profound, clever and chilling book. But ultimately the ending that was offered completely ruined the whole book for me and squandered all its potential. I feel like maybe the publisher suggested a more 'hopeful' ending with a view to commercial appeal and the author went along with it, but then ruined her book. That's my feeling. Shame.

Extremely strange

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I think it's such a shame Melissa Broder gets a lot of negative comments under her work. I never understand why people dislike complicated / unlikable main characters. How boring would the world be if every novel has a perfectly unflawed narrator. Personally, these types of books are my absolute favourites. I could replay this over and over. Truly outstanding.

My favourite find from 2024.

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Touches on feminism, erotica, modern dating and mental health with some references to classics, Once I made the connection to historical Siren stories it made much more sense, tries to be a male siren tale, yet I felt too many themes and plots meant the book is confusing as the language is too modern particularly the erotica

Really didn’t get this book until the last few chapters

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It's interesting to read a novel about women who desperately crave impossible love, to the point of addiction. It makes Lucy, the protagonist (who is dislikable in many ways) a character we can empathise with when we're not wanting to shake her. Yes, she is selfish, thoughtless and visceral, but she's also endearing in her vulnerability. And she has moments of insight and compassion.

The author's hilarious (and ultimately empathic) portrayal of the support group was one of the gems of this book. And I loved the crafty way she brought magical realsm into this story, allowing the reader to feel at times that little bit wiser than Lucy, who is struggling with her PhD.
And there is a lot of hot, well-described sex and plenty of bodily functions in this story. Which, like many elements of this book may not appeal to all readers. But I found it a thoroughly enjoyable read. And I loved the ending, which felt just right on many levels.

Creative, amusing and sad

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This book was...interesting. In chapter 12 the dialogue is tedious as there was a repetition of two words to move the conversation along, said and asked. Maybe it wouldn't have gotten on my nerves too much if I had read the book, rather than listened to it. There are more descriptive words to use in the English language than repeating said and asked after every other snippet of dialogue.

Not too sure...

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